4 held for woman’s murder, misguiding cops

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday arrested four men in connection with the recovery of a woman’s body stuffed in a gunny bag near Sarita Vihar railway line in southeast Delhi last week.

The accused were identified as Dinesh (25), Saurabh Bhardwaj (19), Chanderkesh (30) and Rahimuudin (25), all residents of Sangam Vihar, police said. After interrogation of the accused, police have added IPC section 376D (gang rape) in the case.

The body of the 25-year-old woman with strangulation marks was found dumped in a sack near the railway line on February 27, police said earlier.

The woman, a resident of Dakshinpuri, had left home on February 25 at around 3 pm and later went missing. She had told her mother that she was going for a job interview with a friend. However, she did not return after which the family filed a missing complaint the next day.

Passersby spotted the body of a woman whose identity was later matched with the one regarding whom a missing complaint was filed at the Ambedkar Nagar Police Station. A mobile phone and a hand-written note were also recovered from the spot.

Police collected the handwriting samples from the house of the deceased to match the handwriting of the hand-note which was recovered from the jeans of the woman. Prima facie, the handwriting of the deceased and that in the note recovered were found to be same.

In the note, the woman mentioned three persons holding them responsible if anything happens to her. All of them of were apprehended and interrogated.

On the day she went missing, there were phone calls between her and the alleged persons.

Even after the sustained interrogation, the movement of the alleged persons could not be contradicted with the murder of the woman. Further, all the accused denied knowing the woman, Chinmoy Biswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast), said.

On March 3, Dinesh was apprehended from Sangam Vihar following raids at several places. On his instance, his associates Bhardwaj, Chanderkesh and Rahimuudin were also arrested from Sangam Vihar, he said.

Dinesh said while he was in Tihar jail, he became friends with Dhirender. During this period, Dhirender had a dispute with an under trial prisoner Bunty. After being released from the jail, Dhirender, along with Dinesh, hatched a conspiracy to teach Bunty “a lesson” and also wanted to grab property of Bunty, which was allegedly acquired by him through illegal sources, Biswal said.

Dinesh roped his friend Bhardwaj into their plan and purchased a new mobile phone and a SIM card. On February 25, Dinesh called at his flat the woman, who was already known to him on the pretext of proving a job.

When she reached, the trio overpowered her. They forced her to write a letter and implicate Bunty's brother Aarush, a resident of Burari and two other men from Sangam Vihar, to mislead the police, the DCP said.

In the letter, they allegedly forced her to write that she was in a relationship with Arush and his mother was not happy with this. It was mentioned that Arush had also made an MMS and “if something happens with me then Arush and his two other friends would be responsible”, a senior police officer said.

The arrested accused disclosed during the interrogation that Dhirender hatched a conspiracy in order to take revenge. They also made calls from the mobile of the victim to the numbers of all the three alleged persons to frame them in the case, Biswal said.

On February 26, they strangulated her and stuffed her body in a sack. Thereafter, they hired a car for Rs 7,800 and hired Rahimuddin and Chanderkesh for Rs 4,000 for dumping the body, he added.

On the same night, they parked the car in basement of the flat and loaded the body and later dumped the body at an isolated spot near the railway line, police added.